Nearly 100 cardboard graves were placed on College Green to commemorate victims of police brutality.
Students walking to class Monday through College Green unexpectedly found themselves in the midst of a graveyard for nearly 100 people.
The memorial site, composed entirely of cardboard graves, was constructed by students in honor of those who have died from police brutality.
Cardboard graves commemorating each person were placed in the snow by members of New BLAC, or the New Black Life Action Coalition, a student organization that aims to bring more productive conversations about race and social justice to campus.
“We wanted to do just kind of a visual representation of the small percentage of the large amount of people who have been affected, who have been victims of police brutality,” said Kelli Oliver, a senior studying commercial photograpy and a member of New BLAC.
The makeshift graveyard, which sits on the side of Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium, will also be the site of a vigil at 6 p.m. Monday.
"We all could have stood up there and shouted the names but (this was a bigger impact)," said Jazzmine Hardges, a freshman studying communication and public advocacy.
University officials currently have no plans to remove the display from College Green, said Katie Quaranta, OU spokeswoman.
The group will also hold a summit Wednesday in Grover W115 at 7 p.m. in order to continue the conversation about race and police brutality.
“We can see that we’re losing not necessarily energy, but when there’s not very dramatic stories out it’s hard to keep people engaged in the movement,” Oliver said of the decision to construct the graveyard.
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